The Little Wolf
by sunryze
Summary: When the Herald of Andraste dies after the events at Haven, Solas tasks himself with finding a suitable Inquisitor. He pays a visit to an old friend.


Prologue - Part 1: The Dreamer's Woes

 _Fen'harel watched her cry. Her thin body trembled and her chest heaved. He heard her scream obscenities to the Maker and curse him for her troubles. She was hunched over on her knees, arms limp at her side and face turned toward the purple sky of the Fade. He pitied this human. Carefully, he picked his way through the rocks and trees to her, white fur snagging in the branches. The ground shook with each step he took. She whipped her head towards him and whimpered, and the scent of fear rolled off her in waves._

 _He studied her with eyes as big as her head. She stood before him, wiping the tears off her cheeks, and fell into a defensive stance. He bent his muzzle low to her. "You are no mage," he rumbled, voice gravelly and distorted. "How are you here?" "A s-sloth demon," she stuttered out. Her whole body shook, but she could not waver. Not in front of something that could crush her in one step. His intelligent, blue eyes seemed to soften. "So you realize this is the Fade. How curious." "Would you happened to have seen a human with black hair and yellow eyes anywhere?" she asked him. "Perhaps a giant man with brown skin? Or even a Mabari?"_

 _He shook his head at her and her shoulders slumped. "Peace, they cannot be far." His attempt at comfort, while half-hearted, was genuine. "Sloth demons are too lazy to be thorough." She sniffed and wiped her nose on her sleeve, leaving behind a trail of snot. Disgusting. "Well...thanks anyway. I suppose I'll have to go look for them," she sighed. She walked to the Fade pedestal behind her, and was gone. He snorted, ever amused with the characters he met. How interesting the Fade could be sometimes._

 _He followed her from afar, watching her help other mortals out of the Fade. Only the Qunari was self aware, but they were trained from a young age to have extraordinary awareness of their surroundings. He saw her shapeshift through magic, but without lyrium. She took the most curious forms, but they seemed to serve her well. She wore the form of a mouse as well as a golem, and he would be lying if he said he wasn't impressed. No doubt she was linked to the Fade in some way, and even when he watched her defeat the sloth demon that ensnared her, Fen'harel knew he would be visiting her dreams very soon._

* * *

But that was over a decade ago. He did not appear to her as a wolf; these days he dreamed as a man. Fen'harel, or Solas now, visited her dreams often. He taught her to dream, taught her to enter the Fade through awareness and will alone. She was a dedicated pupil and surprised him constantly with her affinity for dreaming. It was harder once he was free from the Fade. He needed to look to find her dreams, and she always found him much easier. That night, he had the rare fortune of stumbling upon her dream before she came to him.

Most nights were the same. She dreamed of Par Vollen, of her son, and sometimes of her family. That night, she dreamed of Ostagar. She was distressed. She could intervene in her own dream, but perhaps she found no desire to. Ostagar was a memory of simpler times, when she was just a soldier. Solas pitied her. He was not at Ostagar, but he saw the dreams of dying men and women. He saw Loghain as both a traitor and Ferelden's silent savior, and he knew she did too. It tortured her constantly. After seeing the memories of dead soldier, she didn't have the heart to blame him as Alistair still did. She regretted putting him through hell.

Solas picked his way through the battlefield, stepping delicately over human and darkspawn alike. His friend fought at the king's side in this dream, but even she was powerless to stop the ogre from crushing Cailan in his armor. Angry tears streamed down her cheeks, her scrawny body shaking in her armor. She watched, powerless, as Duncan plunged his blades into the ogre's chest, killing it. Loghain sounded his retreat as the darkspawn grew in number and swarmed the field. She bowed her head and fought on, a tireless soldier against the masses.

He placed a warm hand on her back and she whirled around, daggers ready to slice into his throat. Her eyes widened when she recognized him and smiled sheepishly. She nodded towards the darkspawn horde and he grinned, joining her endless battle. "Nice to see you again, hahren!" she yelled over the sounds of clashing steel and cries of pain. She was invigorated in battle. He froze a group of genlocks headed for them and she whirled through them like a shadow, shattering each one. "I'm afraid this is business and not pleasure, da'fen." Her grin faltered, but her blade did not. She cut down one darkspawn after another, with the support of Solas. They kept coming and coming though all of Cailan's men were either dead or had long deserted the battlefield.

Perhaps this was what she longed for, to kill darkspawn after darkspawn, an infinite battle until she or the whole of their ranks fell. "What do you need then?" Her back was pressed against his. The enemy horde clustered in a circle around them, swinging their weapons clumsily. No one ever said the creatures were smart. "Well you've heard of the Inquisition, have you not?" She snorted at him. "I live in Ferelden, not the Silent Plains. I heard the Herald of Andraste formed the Inquisition after the Conclave was destroyed."

"The Herald is dead." She stiffened in surprise, nearly letting a hurlock's axe take her arm off. "That's a shame, thought she would've had the Maker on her side here." "Even Andraste died," Solas gently reminded her. "But we need an Inquisitor. One that holds weight in Thedas, one who is respected. The Champion of Kirkwall has disappeared, but-" "No sodding way," she interrupted with a growl. "There is no way you are asking me to be your blighted Inquisitor."

"We need you, da'fen," he pleaded. "The Inquisition needs you." Her daggers hit the frozen ground with a bang. The dream shattered around them, leaving them standing amidst snowy ruins and long dead corpses. "How am I supposed to close the Breach then?" she asked, her shoulders slumping. "I'm just a soldier, a Warden. I fight darkspawn, not demons." "You can dream. Perhaps you can dream it shut." She opened her mouth as if to say something, but instead shook her head and sighed deeply. "You're a fool, Fen'harel. You always were."

Solas was wrenched out of his dream, sitting up in his chair with a gasp. He was covered in a cold sweat and filled with dread. The Inquisition would be lost.


End file.
